Rafael Nadal maintains clay dominance

By Mark Hodgkinson

12:01AM BST 06 May 2008

Those who like a bit of neoclassical, fascist-era kitsch with their tennis will be disappointed to learn that Mussolini's white marble statues at the Foro Italico are largely obscured from view during this week's Rome Masters. Temporary stands have been built over and around them as the site undergoes a revamp, proving that little lasts for ever in the Eternal City.

But what about Rafael Nadal's run on Roman clay? Nadal, the Spaniard with his dusty shoes rammed across the rest of the locker-room's throats, has been the champion here for the past three seasons, and he is the overwhelming favourite to win the title once more on Sunday.

"He just goes out and just punishes people," American Andy Roddick said of Rafa on the rampage. "It's almost as if he is made for this surface." And Roddick is not alone in recognising that most players stand about as much chance against Nadal on clay as the Christians did against the lions in Ancient Rome. Just how long can Nadal keep winning on the red stuff?

In the eyes of Nadal, the main obstacle to his continued clay-court dominance is not one of his fellow players; it is the sport's administrators. Nadal has become increasingly emotive in his attacks on the ATP Tour for how they have bunched the red-clay tournaments together this season to make space elsewhere during an Olympic year, with the tournaments in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome and Hamburg to be played over four consecutive weeks.

However, he has not done too badly during the first half of the month-long stretch on the road, as he won a fourth successive Monte Carlo trophy and also scored his fourth title in a row in Barcelona on Sunday.

So, even though Nadal is out on the match court for the third week in a row and dropped his first set of the clay-court season in beating David Ferrer in the Barcelona final on Sunday, the rest of the locker-room believe it will take a lot to bring him crashing down into the dirt.

Roger Federer thinks that "nothing is impossible" for Nadal on clay, and Britain's Andy Murray doesn't see Nadal stopping soon. Indeed, the Spaniard has won 103 of his last 104 matches on red courts, with his only defeat coming against Federer in last season's Hamburg final. It is astonishing to think that Nadal has done all that, and yet he will only turn 22 next month during the French Open.

So Rome expects a fourth title in a row for Nadal, who, after a first-round bye, opens against fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero or Germany's Nicolas Kiefer. With a guaranteed week off before the French Open starts in Paris on May 26, almost everything is pointing to him winning another title there - and that would also be four in a row. For Nadal, things seem to come in fours, not threes.

Back in Rome, Richard Gasquet, the wonderfully gifted but mentally suspect world No?9 from France, went out in the opening round, with a 6-4, 6-1 defeat to Peruvian qualifier Luis Horna.